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On June 22, 2020, the Prime Minister held the ninth meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2020 at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, the participants held a discussion on building a new normal for everyday life (local public administration and finance, social security system), and on the Basic Policy (for Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform).

Following the discussions, the Prime Minister said,

“Today, we first discussed local public administration and finance as well as the social security system.

Through the recent experience of the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), not only those engaged in government affairs, but the public as well, have been made fully aware of the significance and importance of strongly promoting digitization in either field.

Against this backdrop, we can no longer spare any time in building a digital government from the perspective of the people, by digitizing the administrative services of both the national and local governments.

Furthermore, advancing the digitization of healthcare and nursing care is of extreme importance in preparing for possible crises in the future, such as the second wave of infections.

I ask the Chief Cabinet Secretary, collaborating with the relevant ministers, including the Minister in charge of Information Technology Policy and the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communication, to expeditiously advance relevant efforts that lead to the development of a digital government.

I also ask the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare to work with medical practitioners and nursing care practitioners in unity, to further accelerate the digitization of healthcare and nursing care.

Afterwards, we discussed the planning of the Basic Policy (on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform).

With this year’s Basic Policy, we intend to incorporate a blueprint of societal transformation for addressing the social issues that have been revealed by the recent spread of infections and realizing the high-quality economy and society that we aim to create through building a new normal for everyday life.

To that end, I ask Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Nishimura to collaborate with the respective ministries and agencies, and work on planning the Basic Policy.”